COLORADO RIVER DELTA 1980

A local Cucapa Indian fisherman who was born and raised in the Colorado River Delta Region of El Mayor, Baja California, Mexico, motors his fishing panga along the Colorado River, circa 1980.

The Cocopah fisherman pictured in the small river boat is Amparo's grand uncle.
The fisherman's daughter, Amparo's aunt, is along for the ride.

This historical photograph of these indigenous Native American river people was nearly destroyed from water and mold, significant wear and tear, when KUMEYAAY.INFO received it for a Kalim Smith UCSD movie documentary, Right of Passage, A Nation Divided.

KUMEYAAY.INFO did a complete digital restoration on this image.

The photo was originally taken by a national magazine photographer doing a documentary on the Colorado River Delta, Rio Hardy area in the late 1970s or early 1980s, and given to the family. Whether this picture was published in the magazine or not is unknown, but here it is today.

Personal notes from a young Cocopah woman:

I also used to go out on the boat with my uncles and help check their nets for fish.

I remember eating fish very often on the river, about five days a week we ate fresh fish from the river.